Today's Birmingham mail headline: Biriyani is just what doctor ordered. :-)

Hey friends

I was thrilled to see the newspapers today. Yes, I was on them, Birmingham mail and Birmingham post :-)

Thank u dear friends for making this all worthwhile.

Check out these links dears to read the articles featured in them.

Birmingham mail - Biriyani is just what doctor ordered

Birmingham post - Birmingham doctor's home made recipe  to feature in celebrity chef's cookbook

Asiana.tv - UK's best biriyani

Thanks a bunch to Lucy O'Brien, publicist to Flora cuisine & Matt Lloyd, the reporter to Birmingham mail, for the interview and brilliant write up.

Keralan lasagne | Crepe's layered with chicken | Chatti pathiri | Chatti pathil | Adukku roti | Ottada | Kukskitchen

Happy Eid to one and all!

Eid calls for a peek in to the famous Malabar cuisine.

Malabar cuisine is an integral part of Keralan cuisine. The flavours of Arab, Brahmin, Zamorin and Chirakkal cuisines have been incorporated into Malabar cuisine, making it quite distinctive. Kozhikode and Thalassery, known as the centres of Malabar cuisine. I try my luck on malabar cuisine when ever I can. This recipe is sourced from thas, with a few alterations by yours truly :-)

Vattayappam: Rice and coconut steamed cake - a Syrian Christian speciality | Kukskitchen

Whether savoury or sweet vattayappam is so delicious. The best vattayapam I have ever had is my thresiamma ammachi's. She uses Toddy instead of yeast. I know, what pains did our nans take to get that superb taste. My dad still has tales to tell about how he managed to get it for her in Trivandrum , the capital city of Kerala. :-)

Still remember the easter mornings when she used to prepare vattayappams with chicken stew, beef cutlet and beef and kurkka ualrthu for nombu thurakkal. I'm drooling now. :-)

Here is how I make it

My vattayappam recipe is very much similar to how I make appam. Check it out here.

Chicken Cafreal: A goan recipe with potatoes | Kukskitchen

Cafreal is a spicy chicken preparation consumed widely in the Indian state of Goa. The preparation originated from the Portuguese colonies in the African continent. It was introduced into the Goan cuisine by the Portuguese.( wiki yude kripa)

Presented is how I made this recipe.

The sauce I should say tastes a lot like peri-peri sauce. 

Hurray! My recipe published in cookbook: Flora Cuisine 'Cookbook by mums for mums'

Hey folks

A while ago my Keralan prawn biriyani recipe got selected to feature in a cookbook for the very first time.

It was selected amongst the top 30 recipes by the famous celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli,

Flora’s brand ambassador.

Here is what the chef says about it.

Techniques / How to: Six ways to steam cook, even with out a steamer | KuksKitchen

Steaming is a moist-heat cooking technique that uses hot steam to conduct the heat in to food.

As you know from your school physics lessons water turns to steam at the boiling point of water. This temperature, provided that the pressure is a normal 1.00 atmosphere is equal to 100.00 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Steaming has an advantage over methods such as boiling or even simmering in that there is no movement involved, hence it's gentler on delicate food items. And because it doesn't require the food to be submerged, it avoids the loss of nutrients through leaching.

Steam can be forced to exceed this natural temperature limit by pressurizing it. You know what I am talking about - yes the good old pressure cooker. The higher the pressure, the hotter the steam becomes.

I love steaming since it is so healthy. Here are some of the steamed goodies from my blog.

Semolina / Rava idli

Rice noodles / Idiappam

Steamed rice cake / Puttu

Vattayappam

Below are some of the techniques I use in my kitchen lab :-) for steam cooking. Please share your experiences with steam cooking and more techniques which I have missed down here.

Technique One: Stove top method / Compartment steaming

How I do it: Perfect fluffy rice in microwave at kukskitchen

What is so difficult about cooking rice, one might say! but it comes with its own difficulties.

I have got a fool-proof microwave rice recipe to make the perfect fluffy rice each time.

Ingredients

Rice - 2 cups, I use basmati rice

Tap water - 4 1/4 cups

Oil / Butter / Ghee - 1 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Method

Add all the ingredients in a microwavable pot and cook for 15 minutes on full power. Once the 15 minutes is over use a fork to fluff up your rice. 

Best served ASAP.

Quick & easy fish curry: featuring coconut milk | Kukskitchen

Quick fix meals are my favourite, especially for a week night when u come home tired from work, only to find a couple of hungry tumms and a house full of chores. This particular fish curry is my favourite as it features my favourite ingredient coconut milk. Anything to do with coconut is close to my heart, being a girl from kerala. It is so quick to make and requires cooking skills next to nothing, honestly!

I dedicate this recipe to you working mums, bachelors and new cooks.

A few things before you start:

• Shallots give a better taste and pearl onions if used give a fantastic flavour to the sauce.
• Simmer at low heat for longer and avoid ginger garlic paste for a traditional taste similar to dry-baked fish (മീൻ പൊള്ളിച്ചത്‌).

Warm & spicy autumn muffins for Baking partners challenge | featuring pumpkin | Kukskitchen

This would be my second one of the baking partners challenge run by Swathi ( Zesty South Indian Kitchen) . I am luving it.




Reshmi of Easy Cook suggested Pumpkin chocolate chips muffin which is adapted from Baking from the Heart, a collaborative cookbook with Michael J Rose

Bhelpuri | Spicy and tangy healthy and balanced Indian salad | Kukskitchen

Guess our dinner today! Bhelpuri - And God was it yummy.

How did it taste?

It was so scrumptous and filling, I wasn't expecting that. The tamarind chutney was the star. The crunchy vegetables soaked in spicy green chutney give u a hit. But the tamarind chutney doesn't wait any longer than u need to cool ur palate down with its tangy yet sweet taste. The papri and sev adds to ur pleasure. We had two empty plates and two full tumms. :)

If u haven't had bhelpuri yet, this is the time to try.

Rava idli | Steamed semolina cake | My first guest post | Kukskitchen

Thanks a bunch Meena @ random ramblings. She has an inspiring blog with lots of yummy recipes. Please do visit her space, if u haven't done so already. For the recipe follow the link below and share your valuable thoughts.  Rava idli 



A few things before you start:

- Use slightly sour natural yogurt for a better taste.

- If using roasted rava, skip sautéing rava in pan. 

- For a white idli, omit turmeric powder. 

- Best served hot with a hot cup of tea and tomato-coconut chutney

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Rava Idli

റവ  ഇഡലി 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ingredients:

1 – Rava / semolina -1 cup 

2 - Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp 

     Urad dal / uzhunnu -1 tsp 

3 - Dried red chillies - 2 

     Curry leaves-1 sprig 

     Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp 

4 – Salt to taste 

      Baking soda-1/2 tsp 

5 - Yogurt-1 1/3 cup 

      Water – 1 /4 cup 

6 - Oil-1 tbs 

Method: 

• Grease the idli pans and keep aside. 
• Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds and urad dal. 
• When the seeds begin to pop add broken red chillies, curry leaves and turmeric powder and saute for half a minute. 
• Add rava, mix well and saute for 2 mins on medium high heat till rava turns golden brown in colour. 
• Remove from heat, add the salt and baking soda and mix well. Set aside to cool. 
• 5 minutes before making the idlis, mix in the yogurt. Set aside for 5 minutes. If the batter is too thick add water. The batter should be resemble idli batter. 
• Steam for 10-12 minutes till done. 

Cheers

How do I do it: Meat masala | Kukskitchen

There are a million recipe mixes to make meat masala depending on the country, state, region or even the household you are coming from.





Here is one that I frequently use. Amongst shop brought meat masala's I luv Ann's meat curry masala the best.

Tuna mayo sandwich | Lunch box special | Kukskitchen

Our house hold luvs a packed lunch. Over the years I have tried all sorts of food for lunch. Most of them are very healthy and balanced since lunch time is the only time we as a family eat healthy usually :). My criteria for a good lunch includes quick to prepare, can eat with one hand, not too 'fragrant' and not too spicy. I will share more of my quick lunch recipes in time. Watch this space.


Tuna-mayo sandwich is one that frequently makes it's way to my lunch box. When I use mayonnaise I try not to use regular bread as the mayo leaves the bread soggy by lunch time. I try to make my own or use shop-bought baguette, a long thin loaf of French bread.


Here is how I make it

Prawn ularthu: the syrian christian style - featuring coconut cuts and Gambooge | Kukskitchen

Going to Kerala, my home town, is most existing especially for the yummy home (mum) cooked food we get to eat. My mum always asks me for a list of things I want to eat in advance. My list always always always includes her prawn ularthu with coconut cuts. Ethra thinnalum mathi varilla.





In uk I try to recreate that culinary experience using raw tiger prawns, frozen coconut cuts and kudampuli (Gambooge - wiki yude kripa :] ) brought from Kerala during our last visit.

Green marinade for barbecue and how to prepare lamb chops | Kukskitchen

I absolutely luv barbecues. I luv the smell of partially burnt masala that fills the air and the whole 'good food in a relaxed atmosphere' thing. 


I do a variety of barbecue marinades. I will share them all with u in time. Watch this space. :)


The most recent barbecue I had was at center parcs with my dear friends S and R this weekend. It was a brilliant experience even though it is the second time we girls with family are getting together at the venue. Both S and R marinated and brought yummy treats for all of us to share.

British flapjacks | Oat bars | Kukskitchen

Traditional Flapjack is one of the quickest, easiest and importantly cheap baked goods to make and this flapjack recipe, delicious as it is, also has many variations making it even more delicious.

Keralan chicken stew - A Syrian Christian speciality | Kukskitchen

Chicken stew and appam was a staple at my home when guests came. But the stew I remember the most was one that my mum made on my cousin S chettan's wedding day breakfast. Not sure if that special taste was due to the prior shallow frying of chicken pieces by my aunt E, my mum's special loving touch or the fact that it was such an enjoyable day with all of us cousins sitting around the breakfast table before our dear S chettan got married. Interestingly the previous night was the first time I had the yummiest chicken lollipops too. Click here for my version of chicken lollipops


Presented here is how I make it at my home.